How much are porters paid?

It's worryingly common in Nepal to see porters carrying 45kg, sleeping out in the rain and then being paid $1/day (USD) for the privlage - below the absolute poverty line!

Here at Skyhook we do things differently, and that means holding all our suppliers and guides accountable to our Skyhook Adventure minimum wage standards.

Porter Wage Standards

We start with the" Purchasing Power Parity Minimum Wage" formula. Put simply, there are three categories:

Bronze - Requires that porters are paid at least their national minimum wage (NMW), and that their wage has a purchasing power parity (PPP) of at least $10 USD (a number that allows for lower living costs and expenses in the region).

Silver - The higher of NMW + 10% (to allow for harder working conditions than average), and $20 USD/day (PPP)

Gold - The higher of NMW + 20%, and $30 USD/day. This is similar to say the minimum wage in Portugal, allowing for differences in living costs, and represents a great gold standard.

We also take into account local agreements and union decisions in each region, although typically these are much less than the standards above.

Skyhook Porter Wages

For absolute transparency, here are the salaries for porters, on your trips with Skyhook Adventure:

USD/day

Morocco

18

Nepal

15

Tanzania

7

We also require other snesible things such as carrying a maxmium of 15kg, and have appropriate accomodation in tents or hostels.

How to Tip Porters

We recommend tipping around $3-4 USD/day for each porter in Nepal & Tanzania, and $5/day in Morocco.

Of course, if they have gone above and beyond then a little extra means a lot to them!